Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins

My family loves cornbread. My husband thinks that it should be served at every meal with enough left over to have as a bedtime snack crumbled into a bowl with milk. It can be baked in a cast iron skillet, fried on the stove top, made with buttermilk and eggs or even hot water. They love them all. But in the South there are rules about cornbread and everyone has a preference. Here in Kentucky you will find both types of cornbread (without sugar and with). The rules of my house say that there will never be sugar added to cornbread. I do not set these rules. They were established long before I ever made my first cornbread and I usually obey them.

This week’s recipe is Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins and was chosen by Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake. This muffin has red bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, chili powder, and cilantro added to the cornbread batter. I usually like to follow Dories’ instructions to the letter but decided to change things just a little. I cut the sugar down to 2 Tablespoons, just because it’s hard for a Southern girl to put that much sugar into her cornbread. I also baked the muffins in a cast iron muffin mold.

I served these muffins along with a bowl of chili for lunch on Sunday. My family agreed to try them even though they are cornbread snobs. The verdict: they actually liked them. I have a dark secret. I like sweet cornbread and I liked this week’s recipe.